Northumberland in November

November stayed mild and weekend rides were a bonus. 

Visiting the Hexham area near Newcastle gave me the chance to explore some long gradual climbs up onto the Moors. Clear weather gave us the benefit of some great views. 

Derwent Reservoir

Cloud catching

On the border with Durham

Old industry

Brighter later - up here you can see the Fronts

Rolling landscapes

Britten Country - Rides around Aldeburgh #1

Dunwich......but not the Dynamo: Aldeburgh - Dunwich via Leiston

August 2014

A week on the Suffolk coast is just what the doctor ordered. Very gentle undulations, quiet lanes and hardly a pot hole in sight! All good for getting into a good rhythm and speeding along quite nicely. 

That said, some of the smaller lanes here  have had lots of sandy soil deposited on them and that slows you down a bit.  

This first ride was a journey north from the beautiful fishing town of Aldeburgh to Dunwich, whose beach is the final destination of the iconic overnight Dunwich Dynamo ride from London that takes place every July. 

Aldeburgh beach - Sunday morning

Moot Hall - Aldeburgh

On the way I stopped off at Leiston Abbey, where there is a summer music camp and by the sound of it, the inmates were already up and practising at 9 on a Sunday morning!

Leiston Abbey

Quieter roads took me across the Minnsmere Nature Reserve a mix of forest and heath land where the purple heather was in abundance. 

Dunwich was, during Anglo-Saxon times a major port and capital of East Anglia but erosion by the sea has reduced it to a tiny village with a church, a pub, a few houses and a cafe on the beach. The cafe is a good size for it's location and obviously gets a disproportionate surge in business one morning a year as hundreds of cyclists descend upon it. More details of the Dynamo are on this link. 

http://southwarkcyclists.org.uk/introducing-dunwich-dynamo/

Dunwich beach

The Route

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/572436120

Tour Series - Canary Wharf - 6th June 2014

After the last day of a three day Bike maintenance course in Bermondsey, what better way to celebrate and unwind than to spend an afternoon on the river and an evening watching some fast bike racing at Canary Wharf. This was the penultimate venue in the Pearl Izumi Tour Series for 2014. Weather was kind to us......as it is turning out to be for most of this Summer so far!

View from the Grapes, Limehouse

Wharf Skyline

Roger Hammond and the Madison Genesis boys



 

Race time - 1

Race time 2

Team Raleigh - warm down

Thames at Limehouse

Rural Essex - A lovely surprise

Hot day  - June 21st 2014

This ride was a course setting loop for an event the following day and it took me through a number of very pretty Essex villages. I have to own up to not having known the area and this was a complete surprise to me. Such scenic beauty and well kept villages with so many thatched cottages: not at all what I thought this county would have to offer. It helped that the midsummer weather was hot and sunny but I did get though two bottles of water pretty quickly on this 38 mile route. 

Near High Easter

Immaculate Essex

Great Bardfield

Finchingfield 

Finchingfield

Stebbing

Borderlands

Langholm - Ride and a Hill Climb in Scotland - May 2014


Friday.

A seven hour drive up to Scotland and about an hour to unpack and stretch the legs before several of the events team made their way to the start of the Muckletoon Outdoor Festival Hill Climb Championship.

I knew I shouldn't have gone up the entire length  of the hill on a warm up ride before the event started; ouch!

The pain and the.....glory (well more pain really!) and a certain Scottish energy drink....

Langholm itself was beautiful in the evening and the weather promised well for the event and the anticipated Team ride on Saturday afternoon. 

Langholm 

River Esk meeting Ewes Water at Dusk

Saturday

Time spent out on a feed station for the MTB event day allowed moments to take in the views and the sound of the river below. 

Big Country

                                       

....and so to the late afternoon ride up into the hills. Six of us went on a 30 miler with stunning views and hardly a vehicle on the roads. In fact a local said to me 'you are more likely to bump into a sheep than another person!'

What a glorious descent back down into Langholm. Possibly the most beautiful and carefree ride I've ever done. 

Yours truly on those hills

untroubled by traffic......



 

                          All in all, a fabulous place to ride and the weather was on our side all weekend

Commute in the Surrey Hills - 28th April to 2nd May 2014

                                 

My first bike training assignment for Surrey County Council took me the St Catherine's Prep school in Bramley, a characterful school set in the picturesque village of Bramley about 4 miles south of Guildford. 

During the morning rush many of the 'back roads'  here can get clogged with commuter traffic feeding the A3 & A31. The challenge was to find a reasonable route to cycle without too many tough climbs. After all I was using the Dawes.......a chunky 13.3kilos of bike. Four days and 4,500 ft of climbing later, I feel ready for a recovery day!

Using some sections of NCN Route 22 as well as the Surrey Cycleway helped though the routes were obviously quieter by the time of my early afternoon return journeys. 

I was able to use a short section of the Downslink at Bramley & Wonersh Station. This was the first time I've been on this path since my 2010 ride to Shoreham. 

Bramley & Wonersh Station on the Downslink

Cross Road

Leaving Puttenham

Compton

Clear road ahead - near Totford Lane

Puttenham Church 

Seale 

Landscape at Seale

Pink Power - First visit to Wyndy Milla's workshop
(Custom Bike builders & race team)

.............serious bike building stuff  going on in here....

http://www.wyndymilla.com

 

Stats & Route - Outbound

and the return

Down home Downland - Kingsclere & White Hill on a not so clear day

Ride to Kingsclere and back - 28th March 2014

It's been a while since I did this route and I was hoping for s dry ride. Got caught in one of the heaviest showers I'd ever ridden through, just coming into Kingsclere.......without a proper waterproof jacket! Luckily the Sun came out and helped dry my out. The climb up White Hill certainly warmed me up again!

Pamber Priory

Ramsdell Church 

Kingsclere

White Hill Looming - I'm going up there....

Not so clear view from the top of White Hill


 

........probably easier to spot on a Summer's day

The Falcon calls.....refreshments in Rotherwick

........and reward. 

Route

Stats

ts